GED Test Prep - Top Ten Study Tips

The GED exams can be difficult if you are not prepared. Knowing what to study and how to study for the GED can help make the difference between passing and failing. Many students taking the GED have had difficulty with tests in the past. The difference between good test takers and bad test takers often lies in their approach to studying. A good test taker is efficient - they only work on the areas that they are weak at. Use these GED Test Taking Tips to score your highest on your GED.

Study Smart for your GED Exam

The best way to study for your upcoming GED tests is to study smart, not hard. To study smart, you need to:

Understand what’s on each of the 5 GED exams

Focus on the material that you don’t know or are not good at

Develop a flexible study schedule

Study when you are the most alert

Practice Makes Perfect

If you want the most confidence going into your GED Test, it is important that you practice for the test as much as possible. To make the most out of our free GED practice exams, consider using some of the following approaches:

Fully understand all the questions you got wrong by carefully reading the explanations on your score report

Try to tackle one section of the exam at a time

Take exams with self-imposed time constraints – this will help you insure that you know the material

Use a Good Study Guide

If you don't have a good handle on the information required for one of the sections of the GED, you need to invest in a good study guide. A good study guide will help focus your study by condensing all of the material down to just what you need to know. Effective study guides also help you by going over problem solving techniques with example problems. Test-guide.com recommends the following study guides for the GED:

Read the Full Question – Carefully

Read each question twice before you look at the answers. Read each answer twice before you answer. People often read questions too fast and fall into traps. The same goes for answers. Don’t miss the question because you misread some of the terms. You should also be careful not to read too much into the question. Questions are typically straight forward and don’t require a “leap of faith” to answer correctly. In other words, don’t over-read the question and look for a “theoretical” answer versus a “common sense” answer.

Don’t Jump to Conclusions

Some questions on your GED Test require careful analysis. Some of the wrong answers may appear to be the right answer at a casual glance. Often times test writers will put misleading answers first to tempt you to choose them – don’t fall into this trap! Also, there may even appear to be more than one right answer! If this is the case, make sure to choose the best answer based on what is in the question (not based on your assumptions).

Trust Your First Answer

After you have read the question carefully (twice!) and all of the answers carefully (twice!) you will select your best answer. Trust yourself! If you have time left over to review your GED Test – don’t change any answers unless you find an obvious error that you are sure about. Your first answer is usually the right answer.

Keep Time on Your Side

Although the time limits on the GED Test should allow you to finish your exam, it is still important to keep a correct pace going. Determine how much time to “budget” for each question. For example, if you have 40 minutes to answer 20 questions, then you have about two minutes per question. After every few questions, check the time to see if you are still on schedule. Don’t dwell on questions that you don’t know – skip them and move on. Conversely, don’t rush questions that you think you know – read them twice and pick the best answer. Careless mistakes are often what separate a superior score from an average score.

Go With What You Know

You should answer questions that you know first, and skip the ones that you are unsure of. Do not dwell on any one question – answer all the questions that you are sure of first. If you are in doubt about an answer, mark the question, skip it, and go to the next one. When you are finished answering all of the questions that you know, then go back and look at your skipped questions. Sometimes the other questions in the exam will provide you some clues on how to answer some of your skipped questions that you were unsure of.

Have an Answer for Everything

The GED Test does not penalize you for guessing. You should make sure that you answer every question, even if you are unsure of the answer or have to guess. If you have to guess, you can probably eliminate 1 or 2 answer choices immediately. Of the remaining choices pick the answer that you feel the best about – and move on.

Know the Tricks

If you understand the following “tricks” about questions, you’ll increase your score:

Absolute No No’s – Answers with absolutes such as always, never, greatest, must are generally not the correct answers

Beware the “except” – Questions with “except” (or “which of the following is NOT true”) are often read too fast and missed. A good way to answer these questions is to cover the word except or not and then choose the answer that does not belong.

Valid information – All of the information in the question is probably there for a reason. Don’t ignore anything in the question – you will need it to correctly answer the question.

It’s All in the Attitude

Your attitude when it comes to preparing and acing your GED Test is the most important factor that you can control. You need to be positive and have confidence. You need to believe that you will score high on your exam. While you are taking your exam, you need to have confidence and relax. If you come across an answer that frustrates you – just skip it and come back to it later. DO NOT PANIC! If you have studied with the resources on this website – YOU WILL SCORE HIGH!

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Disclaimer: Not affiliated with or endorsed by the American Council on Education (“ACE”) or GED Testing Service LLC. GED is a registered trademark of ACE and is used here solely for purposes of identification.